SURVIVAL

Opening and
Preparing Conch

Conch live in beautiful
shells. They aren't a shellfish per say but a sea snail. They can
be prepared in a variety of different ways, as ceviche, sauteed
with garlic, etc. The problem is to extract them from their tough shell.
Unless you know the technique, you might find yourself with nothing
else but a beautiful shell to look at. For cooking ideas, dont
miss Lukes cuisine
and outdoor cooking pages.

How and Where to Find Conch

Sandy bottoms with grass are usually the best places to look for conch. They can be
found in very shallow water in most of the Caribbean but can be dificult to see.

How
to Extract the Conch from the shell

You found a few beautiful conch, but you're
about to give up or risk breaking the blade of your knife to extract the snail. The reason
you can't get at the meat is because he is able to create a vacuum and remains strongly
anchored in his shell. You need to break the vacuum by making a hole in the shell on the
top on an inside spiral. To pierce this hole, the best way is to use the sharp tip of
another conch. If you don't have another conch, a small ax or a hammer can be used. If you
have a very strong knife you might be able to use a stone, but you might break your knife.
Once you have made a hole and broken the suction you can just pull the snail out with the
tip of your knife. It won't offer much resistance anymore. If you can't see the snail, you
can break the edge of the outermost spiral part of the shell until the snail becomes
visible, then pull it out.

How
to Prepare the Conch

You have your snail out of the shell and you see a pair of eyes,
a dark part with a very strong foot, a tough nail which was used to
protect the snail. You remove all of those. Then you peel off the
dark colored skin and only keep the white part. You cut the
white part (about half of the snail) in small pieces and prepare them
in ceviche or cook them (follow one of Luke recipes).
Photo 1
; Photo 2
(detail)

If
nothing works, what can I do?

You broke your knife or didn't have any to start with. You only have one conch. You
just can't get through it what can you do? Just boil the full shell, extract it from the
shell (easy once boiled) and add a touch of lime. If you don't have a pot to boil it, make
a fire and just barbeque your conch (or just throw it in the fire). Once cooked, extract
part of the snail, add lime and eat it up. All the parts we suggested to remove before are
edible (except the nail), some are just a bit more chewy than other, but it's still
delicious. If you can't extract the snail after cooking it, break the first layer of the
shell with another one or a stone then you can easily pull the meat out (use a stick if
you have to).

A
little bit of cuisine

Luke prepares amazing things with very few ingredients. Don't miss
his cuisine page.